Kyrian woke an instant before the first ray of light furrowed the horizon.
His senses registered the quietness of the pavilion. He rose, put on the crimson robe, and opened the door.
The five were already standing in the common room, arranged and ready. The five were now wearing garnts of the main branch instead of those of their own branches. But they were of a quality one tier inferior to Kyrian’s.
Bai Zhu was standing in front of the first door with his habitual morning scowl, but without the fire of sha from the previous night.
Yan Ling was standing still, her eyes analyzing a small map that she must have acquired in the city.
Kai, with his expression detached from everything. Li Fen, another silent statue. And finally, i Li, with a polished and ready smile, greeted Kyrian before anyone else.
The rest did not speak. They rely nodded in acknowledgnt when Kyrian appeared.
He was about to give the order to depart when the main door of the pavilion opened.
Liang Wei was there, dressed in formal yellow silk robes, a professional smile stamped on his face.
"Young Master Kyrian, disciples of the Court. Good morning. Your mounts are already prepared and waiting in the main courtyard. I hope your stay was comfortable."
Kyrian nodded, a brief gesture.
"It was adequate. Thank you for the hospitality." His voice was neutral, but he was satisfied, so he fulfilled the minimum formality.
Without further ceremony, he led the group outside. In the broad courtyard, Arcon and the Five Crimson War Crows were ready, their handlers standing aside.
The beasts appeared well rested, their energies stable. Liang Wei accompanied them to the edge of the courtyard, making a respectful farewell with his hands clasped.
"A good journey to the Cloud Empire. May your objectives at the auction be achieved."
Kyrian did not reply. He mounted Arcon with a fluid movent. The other five did the sa. A ntal command, a light touch, and the six powerful beasts crouched and then exploded upward, their wings beating forcefully, raising a gust of wind that made Liang Wei’s robes flutter.
As they climbed, rapidly gaining altitude over the still-dark rooftops of the City of the Iron Bell, Kyrian felt several pairs of eyes upon them.
They were not servants or common citizens. On the other side of the Liang Mansion complex, in an equally isolated guest pavilion, five figures watched their departure from a balcony.
Kyrian did not need to look to know. He felt the focused attention, especially one sharp with resentnt.
He ignored them. To Kyrian, they were rely grains of sand in the desert that lay ahead.
The journey continued for another eight days.
The first three were of familiar landscapes. Lowlands giving way to hills, then to higher mountain ranges.
Conversation among the six was sparse. Kyrian remained in his habitual silence, piloting Arcon at the front, a silent beacon for the others to follow.
On the fourth day, sothing changed on the horizon. A thin line, like a curtain of perpetual mist, stretched from east to west, so vast that it seed like the end of the road. It was the border of the Cloud Empire.
As they approached, the sensation in the air changed. There was a subtle spiritual pressure, not oppressive, but constant, as if the air itself were denser. And then, upon crossing an invisible line in the sky, they passed through sothing.
It was like diving into a lake of subtle energy. A translucent barrier, almost imperceptible to the eyes, but clearly felt by those more sensitive.
Kyrian felt a slight tingling on his skin for a second, as if sothing were seeing him completely. His eyes, however, perceived more.
They saw a colossal web of small energy runes that ford a formation.
It was not a defensive barrier in the traditional sense, like the one at the Court. It was not there to block physical or spiritual attacks, nor was it there to prevent passage.
It was sothing different, more complex. Perhaps an environntal stabilization and Qi concentration formation. It kept the Empire’s unique ecosystem isolated and nourished the clouds that gave it its na.
"Impressive." Yan Ling murmured behind him, her voice full of admiration.
"The scale of this... it must consu an astronomical amount of spirit stones. But it must be worth it to maintain this constantly."
What lay within the barrier was, in fact, extraordinary.
As soon as they crossed the barrier, the skies changed radically. The open and often stormy gray of the northern territory was replaced by an infinite sea of white clouds.
Dense, fluffy, radiant clouds stretched as far as the eye could see, completely covering the land below. Sunlight, filtered through this dense layer, was soft and diffuse, bathing everything beneath in a milky, tranquil brightness.
There was not much below, after all, the reason for the empire’s na was that they were above the clouds.
To continue the journey, they had to climb higher.
Flying through the clouds was possible, but visibility was poor and the sensation was disorienting.
So Kyrian led the group to gain more altitude, rising until they erged atop the white ocean.
The view from above was breathtaking. An infinite white carpet beneath a clear, sunlit blue sky, broken only by the occasional peaks of imnsely tall mountains that pierced the clouds like islands in a sea.
The route to the capital was followed based on these peaks. Kyrian morized them on the map and did not find it very difficult to follow them.
Three more days of travel over the sea of clouds. The monotony of the white landscape was hypnotic, but the spiritual energy in the air was becoming noticeably richer and purer than before.
It was a perfect place to cultivate, explaining one of the reasons why the Cloud Empire was such a prosperous force.
Finally, on the eighth day since they left the City of the Iron Bell, they saw their destination.
It was a mountain that defied scale. Its peak, erging from the clouds, was so broad that it seed like a small continental mass floating in the sky. But what captured attention was not only the mountain but also what had been built upon it and around it.
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